Chapter 126. Tobba
A commotion erupted when a group of burly pirates, donned in black and white striped short sleeves, emerged from the building and dragged a bloodied Ritchie behind them.
Charles' face turned a shade darker, and he pounded his fist against the rock wall. His teammate had been discovered.
"What do we do? Do we go save him?" Feuerbach turned to Charles and asked.
Before Charles could give a response, Ritchie, who had been motionless as though he was dead, suddenly lifted his head and cried out hysterically, "Run! It's a trap! They've discovered us!!"
The instant Ritchie's voice sounded, Charles' entire body tensed up. He and Richard each controlled an eye to simultaneously scan the crowd in divergent directions.
"Two on the left. What about your side?" Richard's voice rang out in Charles' head.
"Run!" Charles dropped the command and instantly kicked off against the ground, dashing into the crowd. Feuerbach and Lenise reacted a second late and quickly followed suit.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots continued to ring out. Under the barrage of gunfire, the reconnaissance team swiftly retreated.
Clank!
A bullet struck Charles' prosthetic limb and invoked a few sparks.
In a fluid motion, Charles spun around. With a quick flick of his left wrist, he had drawn his revolver and started firing away at the pirates.
His aim was spot on; blood spurted from the pirates' foreheads. In an instant, the pirates' assault on them was temporarily halted.
However, Charles' response hardly resolved their problem. Rather, his actions caught the attention of other pirates on the streets.
They weren't intimidated by Charles' attack. A ferocious expression painted their faces as they drew the various weapons tied around their waists. Cursing and swearing, they lunged at Charles and his party. The situation escalated quickly.
Clack, clack, clack—
Charles' grappling hook pierced through a nearby rooftop and latched onto a rock wall of the hillside town.
"Everyone, grab on to me!"
He quickly retracted the grappling hook, pulling everyone along as they soared forward.
They landed on a narrow street in the hillside town. Ignoring the onlookers' bewildered gazes, Charles led his two remaining comrades into the narrow alleys in an attempt to shake off the pursuing pirates.
Yet, for some reason, the pirates seemed to have a way of tracking them and stuck close behind. No matter how hard Charles tried, he couldn’t shake them off.
As the number of pirates in pursuit increased, powerful individuals soon joined in the ranks.
Crack!
Suddenly, several barbed rock spines protruded from a nearby rock and flew toward them.
With nimble movements and extreme flexibility, Charles dodged the spines as though he had no bones.
Unfortunately, Lenise wasn't as lucky. The sharp spines pierced through her voluminous figure. Even in her last moments, her alluring eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Damn it!" A frustrated expression appeared on Charles' visage. However, his present circumstances didn't allow him the time or mental space to grieve over a fellow teammate. He continued his rapid dash forward.
But very soon, pirates appeared ahead, armed with weapons, and a menacing glint flashed in their eyes.
They were surrounded!
Just then, a filthy old man suddenly dashed out of a low rock house nearby. "Feuerbach! Come in, quick!!"
Recognizing that the old man addressed the green-haired lad by his name with familiarity, Charles didn't waste a single moment of hesitation and rapidly entered the house.
Rather than a house, it would be more apt to describe the place as a room being used as a garbage dump. Layers upon layers of greasy and dirty items were scattered all over the floor.
Charles had anticipated there to be an escape route or sort that they could take to evade the pirates hot on their heels. However, the old man just distributed several paper crosses that had turned yellow with age. Charles instantly noticed the grime under the elderly man's fingernails.
"Here, take it. One for each of you. Place it here, like this. Quick! Do it, and they won't be able to see you."
The old man instructed and demonstrated by sticking the cross to his face.
Staring at the elderly man's crazed antics, Charles turned to Feuerbach and asked, "Why is he so weird? Is he really reliable?"
A look of confusion appeared on Feuerbach's face. "How would I know? I don't know him."
"You don't know him? Then, why does he know your name?" Charles' heart beat furiously against his ribcage.
Just then, the dilapidated wooden door was kicked down with a bang. A group of menacing pirates stormed in.
"Whatever, we'll just have to make do with it!" Richard muttered and controlled his hand to stick the paper cross onto his face. The mice around him gathered in a tight group behind him and the paper cross.
The pirates suddenly froze.
Meanwhile, Charles could feel their piercing gazes directed straight at him. The pirates can see me! There's no way this thing can turn me invisible!
Just as Charles was prepared to have a final showdown with the pirates, the vicious expressions on the pirates' faces disappeared as they lowered their weapons.
Then, they turned around and left as if they hadn't seen anything in the room.
A few seconds later, the crowded alley right outside the house was emptied out. It was as though the past few minutes that transpired was nothing but an illusion.
"This thing really works, huh? Hehe. We got ourselves a new relic," Richard said.
Just as he was going to stash the paper cross into his pocket, Charles intervened. He quickly studied the item and turned it around multiple times to conclude that it was just a cross pieced together with old paper fragments.
"It's not this thing that works but that guy."
Charles then turned toward the elderly man who was carefully putting away the cross in his hand.
"Why did you help us?" Charles inquired.
The elderly man smiled, but just when he was about to speak, a look of horror crossed his face. He crouched down and started to scuttle around the cramped room like an ape.
"Something came for me! They saw me! Oh my god, that's so scary."
Watching the absurd situation before him, Feuerbach scratched his head in befuddlement. "What the hell are you doing? Captain Charles, is this guy mad?"
Before Charles could offer any response, the elderly man lifted a finger and pointed it at Feuerbach with a terrified expression.
"They are watching you now. Oh no, they're watching me again! So many of them! I got to find a way to avoid them!"
The elderly man rummaged through the trash and eventually dug out a half-rotten, moldy rat from the rubbish heap. He placed it on his head and let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew, thank goodness they are afraid of dead rats. They find it disgusting. They don't dare to watch me now."
"Who are they?" Charles questioned.
"I can't say. If I say it out, I'll be gone. All of us will disappear!" the old man answered with dramatic hand movements.
Watching his crazed antics, Charles asked another question.
"What's your name?"
"Tobba, right, the name's Tobba." The elderly man flashed a silly smile as a dead rat sat atop his head like a crown.
"Why did you save us? Have we met before?"
"I... I knew you would be coming. I've seen all of you in my head. I have known... since thirty years ago. I even prepared some welcome gifts for all of you."
The old man then rummaged through the haphazard pile of trash. In a few moments, he dug out a dirty ragged doll with a missing limb and offered it to the white mouse on the ground.
"Here's for you, little one. I remember I had a little girl, too. But she's younger than you."
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